Manga A Generic Series Tainted by Nostalgia
I constantly see reviewers praising this series saying that it is the best thing since sliced bread.I find this series to be highly overrated. I get irritated by forums that constantly whine and bitch about how "original" this series is compared to more modern day shonen with little to know explaination.
To begin with the characters feel wooden. Hiei is the biggest offender. I think of Hiei as a stray dog that only needs to take one punch to be housebroken. Seriously, he gets beaten once and then joins Team Yusuke and never commits any morally ambiguous action again. We later learn about his very convoluted back story that contradicts the logic of his first appearance. This is made even worse when you consider how easily Yusuke ( whose girlfriend Hiei abducted) and Kurama (who was stabbed by Hiei)seem to trust him implicitly.
Yusuke starts out fun and snarky but his character devolves into an adrenaline junkie as the series develops. In fact by the end of the story he turns into Goku from Dragonball Z, enjoying fighting but thinking everyone can be friends.
Kurama is also an interesting charcter at first but never grows in any direction, his character growth remaining stagnant throughout the story with several chances to have the spotlight focus on his struggles ignored. Didn't Kurama lose his humanity in full demon form? Not important. Kurama met his partner in crime from his previous life, did it really matter? Not really. Kurama sacrifices half his soul with Yusuke but niether are affected by this action. In fact, Kurama doesn't actually seem to be close to them in spite of risking his life for them. He feels more like a coworker who just happens to slay demons with the rest of the team rather than a friend.
I won't talk about Kuwabara because most people including the author don't care about him seeing as he doesn't get much screen time and is kicked out of the final arc; but I do feel he was the best developed.
The arcs range from decent to downright terrible. Many of the fights are downright slugfests with power ups scattered between punches. The series also contains some pretty poorly implemented plot twists like Sensui hating humanity because a few humans torture demons or an entire military coup happening offscreen!!! Honestly, if this was the best shonen had to offer I would quit manga altogether. What a disappointment!
Manga Well done, but with a weak start and finish
When discussing series that change over time, it's fairly common to hear about series that improve significantly in spite of a weak start, or series that have a promising beginning, but gradually degrade in quality. Yu Yu Hakusho is an odd mix of both, as it takes a while for it to hit its stride- and it does so successfully- but it stumbles before reaching the finish line.
The plot involves a delinquent with a good heart named Yusuke Urameshi being killed in a car accident but being brought back to be a Spirit Detective and deal with underworld-related crimes. The "Detective" part is significantly more present in the early series, in which the focus is less on the fighting and more on Yusuke solving crimes and helping people as a ghost. Thankfully, the anime cuts this down and only animates the chapters that are actually important.
The fighting-based part of the series is the most enjoyable. The protagonists' powers are relatively simple but effective, and they tend to match nicely with those of their opponnts, making for entertaining battles. Many of the villains, especially the secondary ones from earlier on, don't have much in the way of personality or Character Development, but some of them prove quite interesting and memorable in spite of that. The plot is well done enough to provide real stakes and inspire viewers to hope that the heroes prevail.
Unfortunately, the series ends on a fairly weak note, introducing some interesting characters and concepts in the final arc but failing to develop them sufficiently, as well as a somewhat contrived ending to the penultimate arc. Again, the anime does help with this somewhat by showing the final battle and cutting down some of the later chapters (which, admittedly, do have their moments), but the ending's still lackluster.
All in all, Yu Yu Hakusho is worth your time as long as you're willing to give it a few episodes to truly get going, and don't mind or are willing to skip the disappointing ending.
Manga I like it
Yu Yu Hakusho is still one of my favorite shonen series. It has a wide cast of characters, some of which are pretty decent, some of which are bloody scary, but all with very different personalities. The fighting rarely gets tedious, as most battles wrap up in an episode or two and always involve different strategies and tricks outside of simply "Beat the other guy to the ground." The four main characters are all quite fun and while they are still the "good" guys, sometimes have moments of anti-heroism. Kurama and Hiei especially don't lose their demonic edge, and the nicest of the bunch is, ironically, the thuggish-looking Kuwabara. Very Togashi, it is. What's really interesting to watch nowadays in relation to Yu Yu Hakusho is how it influential it's been in current-day series such as Naruto and Bleach. Certainly worth a viewing.
Manga MEH!
Honestly, is a so-so series.
Many would call it a Deconstruction, but probably that is only Fans finding later the defintion and bending the series to comply with this idea, as if it make it better or more profound.
Pretty generic, if with several twists and can be enjoyable. The manga had some of the worst panels I had ever read, being bleak, barely draw in some places and honestly confusing. Think of Megatokyo if they had about a fourth of the effort in each panel.
The anime had a catchy song, the Tournament arcs where pretty god althought the twist of Demons with equal amount of Power as the three kings ruined it for me, the ending was acceptable if lacking emotion or climax and in the end, while a good way to enter in the world of Anime and Manga, it can become sour or lose it attraction with other, better writen works.
Unless you suffer from hardcore Nostalgia Filter, like 98% of Anime reviewers from the First Wave of Orient.
Give it a check. You may enjoy it. Or it would bore you to death.
Manga Most Sophisticated Shonen?
Yu Yu Hakusho is a Deconstruction of the classic shonen. Lets start, hero: dickish, violent, obsessed with fighting, spends large amounts of time training. Now most heroes would pass through life with no consequences for their actions, but Yusuke's only friends he can only relate to with violence and spends so much time training he almost loses the only person who actually loves him. The enemies aren't evil for shits and giggles, they have to eat humans to live. Also the series subverts many tropes, the final fight? He loses, but the outcome of the battle didn't matter, only the fact that he fought it.
You can avoid the questions that this series asks, and it isn't bad in terms of straight up punching action, but by ignoring the queries Yu Yu Hakusho raised, you miss out on a lot of what makes this show awesome.
Good:
- Fun characters. Each of the main four were likable in their own way, with Yusuke's bad boy one liners, Kuwabara's goofiness, Kurama's intellectualism and Hiei's cold badassery.
- Imaginative fights. Each character had their own unique, and cool fighting style.
- Humor and heartwarming. Assloads of each.
Bad:
- Animation and Art: While not the worst in the world, this show did not highlight the artistic skills of Japan's finest.
- Later Combat: The Three Kings arc was my favorite, but it did showcase an increasing problem, the enemies got so ridiculous, and theirs powers so ill explained, the final fights seemed more in place in the world of DBZ then in the intelligent place I was used to.
- Out of Focus: With so many characters, a lot of plot lines get dropped. Like Shizuru, her love interest dies, bam! She's gone. In fact, so many female characters are around, and its a relatively short series, only the main four get really resolved, and even then only the main bits of their character gets filled out.
Miscellaneous:
- The Dub: I believe the central cast is excellent, with Hiei's actor giving his character so much dark charm it's no wonder he became the Darkhorse. However, the side characters range from okay, to awful.
- Music: Its not terrible, and it doesn't detract from the piece but its just bland, with no memorable or catchy riffs.
Together, it's one of the best anime's I've ever seen, with a lot of intellect and a fun and engaging plot.
Manga A Classic Shounen Series that Is Worth Your Time
Five years after I first saw it, YYH still impacts me to this very day. It may start out a little weird, and the Dark Tournament arc may drag on a little long, but it more than makes up for it with its clever fights, well-written characters, and strong women and gay guys. (Also, plenty of crazy people, if that's up your alley.) Yes, the fights are awesome, but what has kept me around for this long are the awesome characters (and their relationships), as well as the slick writing (and the Genius Bonus you might see if you squint hard enough).
However, I would not recommend this to people who are not fans of shounen in the first place. You might get bored during the Tournament Arc and swear this show off.
In short, 8/10.
Manga Great anime, but the ending ruins it
I came to love Yu Yu Hakusho, I was pleasantly surprised when I found out that the anime actually did a great job avoiding the usual Shonen tropes.
The characters don't win by getting random unexplained power-ups that come out of nowhere (most of the time), and in some instances where they do, they are still forced to use their wits to win the battle.
The main cast is composed of colorful, very likable personalities, and there wasn't a single character I hated upon finishing the Dark Tournament arc. The writer did a great job at developing each one of them, making them relevant to the story and making you feel for them.
Most of all, I loved Yusuke. The premise of the show is that he's this completely amoral delinquent who only cares about fighting, but who has a soft spot and can still be saved if he learns to be a good person. And for what it's worth, the show does do a good job at making him into a better person... Until the second arc.
WARNING: SPOILERS
Remember what I said about loving this show because it did a good job avoiding usual Shonen tropes? Yeah... in the second arc, everybody except Kurama gets sidelined. Yusuke dies in battle, the others get very angry about this and try fighting the bad guy, but they only succeed in playing into his master plan or whatever, and then they get their asses immediately kicked now that their one role in the story is over.
After that, Yusuke inexplicably comes back to life because he is suddenly revealed to be a demon, and then he gets a Super Saiyan form that conveniently allows him to defeat Sensui without effort.
And things only keep getting worse from there. At one point, Yusuke meets with his "actual demon father" who is starving because demons apparently need to eat humans to survive, and Yusuke flat-out tells him, "Eh, don't worry, I'll fetch some humans for you to eat."
...the story did such an amazing job building up Yusuke into a good person who wouldn't turn out like a a fighting-obsessed monster like Toguro, who would never kill anybody, no matter how wicked or twisted they were... And here he is in the final arc, telling his father he'll gladly kill some humans for him to munch on just so he has a chance to kill his father himself for interrupting his very, very, very, very important and personal fight with Sensui, who is totally not revealed to be Toguro 2.0.
The story of these last few episodes isn't good either. It goes places, and none of them ever feel like they really matter. It builds up to be this amazing story about racism, war, humanity, bloodlust... And then it throws all logic out of the window with a random-ass tournament and says, "Let's all get along! THE END!" And it just leaves me scratching my head. What did I just watch?
Overall, the Dark Tournament is the story at its peak. Chapter Black trips on itself, but still manages to be interesting and engaging, but its climax and the final arc flat-out ruin the anime for me.